And Dæmon Tactics
by The Black Sun's Daughter
Summary: It's kind of hard to pretend that they have a perfectly professional relationship when Flynn's dæmon insists on treating Eve's own dæmon like her own personal chair at every opportunity.


"Aw, how _cute,"_ Ezekiel coos, his voice dripping with good-natured sarcasm and humor, but it's cut off with a sharp yelp when Stone accidentally-on-purpose steps on his foot as walks past.

The historian flops down in his favourite armchair with a smirk on his face, Addy purring happily at his feet. Cassandra swats him lightly on the arm; Asten is giggling softly from her shoulder, his pseudo-prehensile tail curled lightly around her neck. "It _is_ kinda cute, though, Flynn," she says matter-of-factly.

The sound of his name being spoken pulls Flynn's attention from the ancient manuscript he's reading, blinking fuzzily until the room clears. "Huh?" he asks oh-so-intelligently, then follows Cassandra's pointed look across the table.

Eve is sitting at the end of the table closest to his desk, helping him narrow down potential locations for his artefact hunt. She might not be able to read ancient Sumerian, but she's plenty better with a map that he is. Karys sits next to her like he always does, his muzzle resting on her lap, and lying on Karys's head between his ears like she belongs there? Loquis, happy as a lark. Or rather, an otter.

Flynn coughs awkwardly and can already feel the blush spreading up the sides of his neck. "Loquis! He's not a _chair,_ for God's sake," he scolds as best he can and considers making a run for it, but Jenkins is fixing the Back Door's wiring and Ezekiel's sitting on the steps with Zhu, barring his paths.

That only earns him a wholly unimpressed look from two sets of animal eyes, and then Loquis leaps gracefully from Karys's back and scrambles up to perch on the cushion Flynn keeps for her on the corner of his desk. "Karys is more comfy," she mutters mutinously.

Karys gives Flynn the hairy eye for a long time after that, and Eve keeps reaching down with one hand to lightly stroke his head where Loquis had been lying.

* * *

It becomes sort of a _thing_ after that.

Flynn has been very quietly (shut up, Ezekiel) nursing a truly monstrous crush on the Library Guardian since, uhm, well since forever, really. Okay, so he has a bit of a soft spot for capable women that know how to properly handle themselves and others (shut _up,_ Ezekiel) and he does still owe her a dance now that he's not slowly bleeding to death from a magical wound. Still, it's a little awkward trying to keep his little secret an actual _secret_ when his dæmon takes to treating said object of his affection's dæmon like a damn pony ride.

Jenkins pretends not to notice, but Menerva will turn her head around in that eerie boneless way owls do to watch them sometimes.

Ezekiel teases at every given opportunity, with Zhu grinning wickedly as she weaves between his ankles like a cat rather than a fox.

Stone and Addy don't say anything about it because they weren't asked, but he's always somehow close enough to 'accidentally' step on Ezekiel's foot when the taunting starts.

Cassandra doesn't say anything either, but she always presses her lips together in a smile when she sees Loquis using Karys as her personal chair, and Asten winks at Karys when he thinks Loquis doesn't see.

Flynn wonders if he ought to be jealous, given his dæmon's apparent preference for sitting elsewhere. Loquis only laughs and calls him an idiot in an impossibly fond tone of voice when he mentions it to her.

And then she scampers over to climb onto Karys's back again, resting her head between his ears.

* * *

Sand pixies are absolute _hell._ They're one of the smallest species of pixie, hardly an inch tall, and they collect shiny, colourful things like magpies do, piling them together in a bower for their whole clan to admire and boast of. They are also mischievous little creatures that like to throw spell dust which causes a magical, appearance-changing glamour to cling to their victims.

Flynn hates them with a passion, and so does Loquis, especially after the little snippets of shiny gossamer covered her in spell dust that made her fur turn neon-yellow with pink polka dots for a month, all because they thought it'd be _funny._ Yeah. Hilarious.

But, thing is, for such vapid little creatures, sand pixies can also apparently hold a grudge for ten years. And they're still upset that he had to take the prize piece out of their bower, which also happened to be a magically-charged dragonstone that would've exploded and wiped out the entire town in which it was kept.

Which is why he and Eve are currently sprinting towards the Back Door at full speed, pursued by a glittering swarm of the tiny pests shrieking insults at a glass-shattering pitch and throwing burning spell dust at their backs.

Karys has caught a puff of spell dust right in the face, and he keeps sneezing as the fur of his muzzle turns blue.

Loquis is hiding in his backpack; polka dots are _not_ a good look on her.

"Shut the door, shut the door, shut the door!" Flynn is shouting before they're even through, waving his arms madly.

Stone and Jenkins throw the Back Door shut the moment they're in the clear.

"Sand pixies," Flynn pants, bent over with hands on his knees as he catches his breath, "are very stupid, but they are very good at staying mad at you. And they are also a very good throw." He sneezes as a bit of spell dust cascades out of his hair and tickles his nose. As he straightens up, Eve walks over to him and without a word cuffs him sharply on the ear. "Ow!"

"That was for not telling me we were in trouble the _first_ time," she informs him, but then she leans in and kisses him square on the mouth. "And that's for everything else. Since you're obviously not going to do anything about it yourself."

Flynn sputters incomprehensibly for a moment, blushing red up to his ears, and Loquis is giggling as she scampers over to sit on Karys's shoulders again. The wolfdog is looking less-than-pleased, given that his fur is slowly changing colour as the spell dust takes effect.

"Ha! Told you she'd kiss him first! Twenty bucks, Stone," Ezekiel crows triumphantly, breaking Flynn out of his daze.

Eve levels a glare at the thief that would make a private break out in a sweat in twenty seconds flat. "Excuse me? You were _betting_ on this?" she asks.

"Uhm..." Ezekiel falters, realising he's just put both feet in it this time.

Loquis whispers something to Karys. The wolfdog wags his tail and slinks around the table until he's standing behind Zhu, then shakes himself vigorously. A cascade of glittering spell dust comes free of his fur and coats the fox dæmon. She lets out a shrill bark and leaps away, but the damage is done.

Flynn glances over at Eve as Karys trots back over to sit at her feet, pleased with himself, and Loquis once more curls herself up on his shoulders. "I still owe you a dance, don't I?" he asks, hands shoved in his pockets.

"You definitely do, Librarian," she answers.

* * *

The embarrassment of knowing that his fellow Librarians are actually betting on his love-life is worth it when Flynn walks in the next day, arm-in-arm with Eve, Loquis perched happily on Karys's back.

Stone and Cassandra are both trying not to laugh even as Addy and Asten are rolling on the floor in hysterics.

Ezekiel mutters something under his breath and stomps away with Zhu slinking along in shame at his heels.

Polka dots aren't a good look on Zhu, either.

* * *

Jacob Stone – Adrasteia, called "Addy," Siberian lynx  
Cassandra Cillian – Asten, common genet  
Ezekiel Jones – Zhu, red fox  
Col. Eve Baird – Karys, Siberian husky/grey wolf mix  
Flynn Carsen – Loquis, American river otter  
Jenkins/Galahad – Menerva, snowy owl


End file.
